Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW
Most phone systems will go down in the panic. Is it automated enough to come back up on its own? I don't know. It probably is automated enough that no phones will be operating after a few months, for failure to pay bills. Same with Internet. Didn't receive your bill? Try calling customer service.
Power will pretty much be off in the US. Coal plants shut down within a day of the silos not being refilled. Nuclear within a week of nobody pushing "maintenance finished" buttons. Natural gas could work longer, but is limited to not only the gas production, but whatever power plants power each pump and valve on the pipe. And once power plants start going down, they drag the whole system down due to load imbalances. Hydro, solar and wind might continue operating for some time, but they are about 8% of the US power production, and there won't be much of a grid left to power.
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1. The US does not represent the entire world, but I am actually suprised to hear that only 8% of US power is renewable (I thought you guys had a lot more hydro-power) <reference:
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3 says 12% which is close enough to what Ryan Said >
2. However that is locally based. Power in say, the Niagara region gets 80+% of its power from the dam, which will happily keep chugging away for decades after all human intervention stops.
As far as requirements, that's kind of the point
If consumption is only 8% of peak, then renewables will be able to cover 100% of useage even if they only provide 8% of the grid total capacity, because only 8% of the grid is actually being utilized.